


The Altruist's Algorithm of Divergent Thinking

by Riddleisourking, ThiefOfADHD



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Child Abuse, Dave Needs A Hug, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, F/M, Hamilton References, M/M, Minor Character Death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-20
Updated: 2017-05-20
Packaged: 2018-11-02 19:00:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10950759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Riddleisourking/pseuds/Riddleisourking, https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThiefOfADHD/pseuds/ThiefOfADHD
Summary: The Strilonde household has never been stable, and no matter what, it will never change. As deep as psychology goes, each person has their own distinct personality, pulling the household into an altruistic algorithm of divergent thinking. A simpler version to break it down: the Strilonde home has a quick and nearly thoughtless problem-solving plan of each person choosing their own way to solve the problems the family has to raise the family up from where it was, which in result is ineffective.Roxy Lalonde wants to forget her parents exist, drinking away her pain, Dirk Strider wants to be open about himself, only to keep himself locked away to build robots and AI’s to avoid any conflict, Rose Lalonde wants to figure out why her family is so unstable, and Dave Strider wants to change to fit in.This is the Strilonde family, a family where they wish for change, but they can only find their means of escapism through their own devices, most of which never seem to fix anything.





	The Altruist's Algorithm of Divergent Thinking

The Strilonde family, a family of turmoil and chaos. A father who abuses his children, a mother who refuses to acknowledge the events, and the four children who are demolished on a daily basis. This all started in a blur, merely from a man meeting a woman. From there, she had their four children, and soon after, they separated. The woman got their daughters, giving them her maiden name, whereas the man got their sons, forcing them to stay strong. It wasn’t all that long of a separation before they reunited again, and that’s when it all started.

Their father, Daniel, wasn’t a cruel man, not at first, but ever since his first divorce with their mother, Angie, he had picked up heavy drinking, and with that, his drunk self came out to be someone not at all kind. However, the reuniting of him and Angie didn’t change his drinking habits. This led to his wife and their children receiving many bruises and a lot of holes in the walls of their home. He never cared to apologize for his actions, simply brushing them aside for more to drink.

Dave, their youngest son, was the one who got the brunt of Daniel’s rage the most out of the rest of the family. He always thought it was to make him tougher, make him more like his older brother, Dirk, who seemed to get less damage from Daniel than Dave had, so he tried to model himself after him. Standing straighter, stoic faced, a fighter, someone strong. This, however, didn’t change Daniel’s attacks on him. This led to Dave having to ask Dirk about the situation.

“Dirk?” Dave gently knocked on the door, looking in.

The second oldest of the Strilondes was hard at work from the looks of it. Schematics and machines with the wirings exposed littered the floor of his normally clean bedroom and he had his head buried in his hands, his shoulders were shaking but as soon as Dave's voice rang out, he straightened up and visibly wiped at his face before turning towards the door, “Sup, lil’ man?” He asked.

Dave quickly slid into the room, shutting the door as he went to his older brother, pulling his computer chair over to the work bench, sitting next to his brother before hugging him tightly. “Dirk, why does dad only hurt me and not you most days?” He asked softly, keeping his voice low in case their father was nearby.

Dirk visibly stiffened at the touch but he slowly relaxed as he pulled his younger brother closer to him, “Well, lil’ man, that's kind of a tough question.” He started as he grabbed a brush and started combing through Dave's hair. “I guess the only way to put it is that Daniel-” Dirk never referred to him as their father, not even once. “-Is like the bullies on your playground. He picks on the little ones because he knows he can get away with it. But I'm working on something with mom, I think- I think I can get us out of here finally.”

“Really?” He looked up at him, his bright red eyes glistening underneath his shades, which had a visible crack in them from the prior night’s incident.

“Yeah and then we’ll get you some new rockin’ shades.” He teased as he wiped Dave's tears away with his thumbs. “But until then, can you make me a promise?”

“Mhm! I can always make promises to you.” He gave him a smile, the best he could manage him. He rarely smiled nowadays.

Dirk gently lifted his shades up and looked into his eyes sadly, “Talk less, smile more. Don't let him know what you're against or what you're for.”

Dave watched him. “What? You- are you serious?” He tilted his head in confusion.

“If you keep out of his way, then maybe he’ll ignore you and that's better than getting hurt, isn't it?” He asked softly.

He nodded slowly. “I’ll do that.” He promised, hugging him as he pressed his cheek against his brother’s shoulder. “Do you think he’ll ever stop hurting us?” His voice went very soft, almost in a murmur to himself.

Dirk leaned back in his desk chair and he sighed softly, “Dave, there's two types of people in this world, there’s the abusers, who take for granted everything that's given to them and then there's those who are just trying to survive the best that they can. Daniel is an abuser. People like him will never change, they don't want to.”

Dave looked at him, his lips were quivering. “What about the others? The survivors? What happens to them?”

Dirk pulled Dave onto his lap and he pushed his own triangular shades up on top of his meticulously styled hair, “The survivors… They get the happily ever afters. They get the white-picket fences and the houses filled with nothing but laughter and love. They just need to survive first.” He gently pushed Dave's hair back from his face. “You, me, Roxy, and Rose? We’re survivors.”

“Is mom a survivor, too? Did Daniel start off as a survivor? Does that happen? Do survivors end up becoming abusers?” Dave was full of questions, watching his older brother as he took off his shades, laying against him as he hid a developing black eye. He felt safe with his siblings, mainly due to him being the youngest.

Dirk’s hand moved in comforting circles on Dave's back and he closed his eyes, “Mom was a survivor but Daniel… He broke her and sometimes, when you get broken, you need a lot of help and mom can't get that help right now. When we leave, we’ll make sure she gets help but until then, we need to be understanding and try to help her ourselves.” He sighed softly. “Daniel is like… Well, you know about puppies right? How if you raise them mean that they’ll turn out mean? Daniel was born like that but he can never change, trust me.”

Dave nodded gently. “I understand. Hey, Dirk?” He looked up at him gently, touching his cheek.

“Yeah, lil’ man?”

“Do you know why Roxy’s got bottles under her bed?”

A sad look crossed Dirk’s face and he held Dave closer if that were possible, “Everyone has different ways of coping and that's hers. We need to be understanding with her too.”

“Will she be okay?”

“Yeah, we just need to be there for her. Do you think you can do that?” He asked softly.

Dave nodded. Just then, heavy thudding came up towards the bedroom. There was a loud banging against the door that made Dave tense up, trembling.

“Dave, closet now.” Dirk said urgently. Dave quickly nodded and ran into the closet, carefully closing it just as Daniel kicked the door open, heading for Dirk.

Dirk quickly stood up and his desk chair crashed backwards, “What the fuck?!” He asked angrily.

“How dare you make fucking plans behind my damn back!!” Daniel grabbed Dirk, pulling him close to him, he reeked of whisky and Dave could smell it all the way from the closet.

“Da- Daniel, get the fuck off me.” Dirk struggled against Daniel’s grip but he was only thirteen and he barely had any muscles.

“I’ll fucking teach you not to make any plans behind my back! I’m the man of the house!! Not you!!” With that, Daniel slammed Dirk into the wall.

Dave quickly covered his ears as he tried to block out the noise, tears cascading down his face.

“DIRK!?” Angie’s voice carried loudly as she ran into the room, her heels clicked on the floor loudly. There was no answer from Dirk though. “YOU MONSTER!”

Daniel quickly started on Angie, dragging her into the room by her blonde locks. “YOU FUCKING HAD TO COME IN HERE!!” He screamed, throwing her down to the floor.

She screamed loudly and cried, “You're hurting me!”

“That’s the whole fucking point! I have to make you behave somehow!” He got on top of her, a knee pressed into her abdomen to keep her down. “You keep fucking up everything, don’t you!?! Say it!!”

She was sobbing loudly, “Danny, stop it! We have to get Dirk to the ho-”

“SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!” Daniel screamed, tugging her head up before slamming her down again. “JUST SHUT UP!!”

Angie had gone limp and her glassy eyes were trained on the closet.

Dave saw this from the small crack, trembling as he scurried to the very back of the closet, covering his mouth to keep the sobs from escaping. He kept watch, however, as Daniel leaned down, pressing an ear to Angie’s chest to see if she was still living.

That's when Roxy walked in and she dropped a gadget that Dirk had made for her the previous week and she screamed loudly before dropping by Dirk’s body and frantically searching for a pulse.

Daniel watched her, moving to her before grabbing her arm tightly, pulling her attention to him. “Listen the fuck up, you don’t tell a single fucking person I did this.” He snarled.

Her wide magenta eyes were fixed on Daniel’s face and she was trembling, “Y-you... There's a pulse. Dirk’s still alive.”

“And what do you want me to do?! Help him?!” He screamed in her face, his grip tightening on her.

She was sobbing and that's what her eyes moved to the closet and she fastened on Dave's eyes, “I-I’ll tell them that there was a burglar!” She begged.

Daniel pondered the thought, nodding. “You make the call.” He threw her arm away from him, getting up before leaving the room to his own bedroom.

Dave slowly pushed the closet open, crawling to Angie before hugging her tightly, sobbing loudly.

Roxy sniffled and pulled Dave close to her as she dialed on her phone to call the police, “He-hello? There was a burglary a-and my mother is dead and my brother is unconscious.” Her voice shook as she spoke.

Dave buried his face against Roxy, sobbing as he listened to her lie to the police. He didn’t want her to get hurt by Daniel, he knew she had to do this. He got an idea, gently pointing to the window to try and get Roxy’s attention.

She shakily got up and she opened it slowly as she set her phone down. Dave watched her as he laid down next to Dirk, gently touching his cheek. “D-Dirk…” He whispered softly. Dirk was unresponsive and he was slumped against the wall, there was blood that was slowly staining the carpet

Dave turned to Roxy, whining as he reached for her. He was only a kid, barely eleven years old.

Roxy picked Dave up and she quickly moved with him out of the room and out of the house. It was filled with nothing but bad memories now and they both cried together as they waited for the ambulance and police.


End file.
